CAS E ST U DY

DAKA INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Making a splash in the pool accessory market with SolidWorks software

Daka chose SolidWorks software

to produce the Sea-Doo Seascooter
Dolphin because it provided the
most efficient approach to meet
the challenging design deadline.

Daka, a Hong Kong -based leading designer, developer, and marketer of inventive consumer Challenge:
products, set the dive propulsion vehicle (DPV) market on its head with the introduction of Develop innovative products within short
the Sea-Doo® Seascooter™ DPV, selling more than 100,000 units and creating a new product development windows in order to beat
category in the process. The company thrives on executing a strategy based on developing competitors to market and establish new
innovative products that will establish new global consumer markets. Following the success global consumer markets.
of the original Seascooter DPV, the group decided to pursue the broader pool accessory
and family recreation market by introducing the lightweight, compact Dolphin water scooter. Solution:
More of a swimming aid than a dive vehicle, it features positive buoyancy and a 15-foot Implement the SolidWorks 3D CAD software
depth limit. to reduce development cycles and shorten
time-to-market.

According to Pat Mah, Daka chairman, the design cycle for the Dolphin water scooter
was especially challenging. “We needed to hit the market ahead of our competitors and Results:
imitators. As a result, the window of opportunity for a lower-priced, swimming pool model • Reduced design cycle by 50 percent
with additional safety features was extremely small,” Mah explains. “Time-to-market is an • Cut development costs by 50 percent
essential success factor for us, because there is a great deal of copying going on. We had to • Expedited tooling and mold development
be very quick to market in order to line up the major retailers and distribution outlets. They • Reaped significant market share due to
are critical to succeeding in an emerging consumer market.” accelerated time-to-market

Daka Research (UK) Ltd., the group’s design team based in the United Kingdom, was given
the task of designing the Dolphin water scooter in half the time of the Seascooter’s design
cycle. “To meet our ambitious deadline, we needed to use a CAD package with robust design
and communication capabilities,” recalls Managing Director Alex Kalogroulis. “We decided
to use SolidWorks® 3D CAD software because it is very intuitive and represents the most
efficient way to work.”
Overcoming pressing time constraints “IT WAS QUITE A CHALLENGE TO

With SolidWorks software, Daka’s design team was able to produce the Dolphin water GET THIS PROJECT DONE, BUT

scooter in just six and a half months, as opposed to the 13-month design cycle for the WE WERE ABLE TO WORK A

Seascooter—a reduction of 50 percent. Kalogroulis notes that part of the shortened design LOT FASTER AND EASIER WITH

cycle included a one-month complete redesign to improve the manufacturability of certain SOLIDWORKS SOFTWARE.”

components in the 31-piece Dolphin assembly. Alex Kalogroulis

Managing Director
“Our colleague in Hong Kong began the design, which was highly styled,” Kalogroulis explains. Daka Research (UK) Ltd.
“However, not much attention was paid to how the product would be tooled. In fact, we
were given only a month to improve the manufacturability of the original design. SolidWorks
software played an important role in meeting that deadline.”

Using the FeatureManager design tree, Kalogroulis and his team rolled back the model to its
original concept and developed the Dolphin as a multibodied assembly within a single part
file. “It was quite a challenge to get this project done,” he notes, “but we were able to work a
lot faster and easier with SolidWorks.”

Accelerating development with eDrawings

The ability to use SolidWorks eDrawings® to communicate via email quickly and
cost-effectively with tooling specialists in China also contributed to Daka’s design group
meeting its ambitious deadline. “eDrawings is very useful in helping us to communicate
with the toolmaker,” Kalogroulis explains. “The Dolphin has four fins, a propeller, and a ring
surrounding the gear box—an area where we cannot afford any deviation. With eDrawings,
we sent the toolmaker models of the design in progress. So they not only provided feedback,
but also let us know if the design could be manufactured cost-effectively. eDrawings also
gave the toolmaker a chance to see what they would be asked to do and then prepare for
what was coming. As a result, they could conduct mold analyses and provide feedback, all
of which saved time and eliminated the potential for rework.”

Kalogroulis adds that, because the design was finished so quickly (rapid prototypes
were generated after only three weeks), Daka saved an estimated 50 percent in
development costs.

Sounding a new market

By using SolidWorks to develop the Dolphin water scooter, including an unanticipated month-
long redesign to address the manufacturing issues, Daka met its abbreviated design cycle
goals. What’s more, they launched the first water scooter to target the broad pool accessory
and family recreation market, encompassing more than six million pool owners throughout Using SolidWorks 3D CAD software and the
the United States. communications capabilities of eDrawings,
Daka Research (UK) Ltd. was able to shorten its
Mah says, “By accelerating the Dolphin’s time-to-market, Daka has been able to line up and design cycle on the Sea-Doo Seascooter Dolphin
secure orders from major retailers—such as Canadian Tire, Toys “R” Us, and Sharper Image by 50 percent while cutting development costs
—including an initial 20,000-unit order from Canadian Tire, one of Canada’s leading retailers.” in half.

Daka International Ltd. Dassault Systèmes

Unit 3101, 31/F, Saxon Tower SolidWorks Corp.
7 Cheung Shun Street 300 Baker Avenue
Cheung Sha Wan, Kln., HKSAR Concord, MA 01742 USA
Phone: +852 2756 3862 Phone: 1 800 693 9000
www.daka.com.hk Outside the US: +1 978 371 5011
Email: info@solidworks.com
www.solidworks.com

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